Paper Writing
For the last two (2) weeks, I’ve been pretty deep into writing. For me, that means sitting around in the lab for most of the day, while writing a paragraph or section or two when inspiration strikes. I’m curious to see how other folks might write. I find it pretty difficult to write entire sections at a time; I bet this becomes easier when the deadline comes closer and closer, but I’m not really a “write everything last minute” type of person (yet).
I sent Gail a very rough draft of a paper we’re planning to submit last Sunday evening. I had an idea of what her feedback was going to be, and it turned out I made a good prediction. Turns out that in order to write about a new tool, you kind of need to explicitly state what the shortcomings of other tools are. I’ve always found it difficult to write about what’s “bad” about a tool. In a sense, it feels like I’m personally attacking the author of these other tools. This is, of course, a complete fallacy, since the author isn’t the tool itself, and vice versa. It also reflects on my own insecurities as well. Accepting feedback about my work without having it be tied to my own perceptions of self-worth is something that I need to work on.
I spent some time this weekend addressing her feedback. Some reprieve from the incessant sun was provided as well, so I’m pretty happy about that. On Friday, we had a lab event where we drank some homemade sangria and watched Austin Powers. The humour was definitely dated, but its harpooning of old James Bond/Spy movies definitely held up. We also watched some episodes of Prehistoric Planet, and that’s always a good time. They really couldn’t have made the dinosaurs any cuter.
The UBC REB (Research Ethics Board) finally approved my user study, so I’ll be starting to advertise that tomorrow, starting on Twitter. I’m also drawing up a list of folks that I’ll directly reach out to who might be interested in participating in my study. It really feels like the final stretch of my time as a graduate student, feels bittersweet more than anything else.
In terms of what I’ve been doing in my free time, I’ve started to re-watch Downton Abbey. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s pretty interesting to see how quaint some of the issues presented in the show are, e.g., Having maids serve at the dinner table vs. footmen, using the word “bastard” in its correct meaning in the presence of women, etc… I’ve also been looking to get a physical copy of Omori for the Switch, but I can’t find to seem any around. I might just cave and get the digital version…